


In France They Kiss On Main Street

by setissma



Series: Polaris (Triad Version) [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:47:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9064717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setissma/pseuds/setissma
Summary: A ball, a homecoming, and celebrating the longest night of the year.





	

“Right, Archfield and Hermione are doing something about the bloody gardens,” Pansy said, coming back to where Harry was sitting at the head table. “Since apparently even three feet of snow won’t deter seventeen year olds from getting up to no good.”

Harry snorted. “Love, _nothing_ is going to stop seventeen year olds from getting up to no good, it’s just a matter of whether they’re idiotic enough to rip one another’s clothes off in the hallway or whether they’ve figured out how to get around the stair spells.”

“I hate this ball,” Pansy muttered, flopping in a chair next to him. “I am way too old to be keeping teenagers from having sex.”

“You clearly do, which is why we have one every other year,” Harry said, laughing. “And there _is_ no keeping teenagers from having sex, just convincing them to do it safely, which is why Draco and I left potions in all the common rooms and every professor held discussion hours last week.”

“Alcyone apparently got inundated,” Pansy said, laughing. “I suppose there’s some benefit to having a young woman around, they all think they can talk to her. Which she finds utterly horrifying.”

“Well, yes, but underneath the frosty Malfoy exterior lurks a Parkinson who actually cares about their well-being,” Harry teased. 

“Oh, shut it,” Pansy said, but she was laughing. “I don’t think she was expecting all the seventh years to ask her to dance. I probably ought to have made up some rule.”

“Yes, that she had to say yes, because she’s enjoying herself,” Harry said, laughing. “She was just by, she said Highwater stepped on her toes repeatedly but was a gentleman about it.”

“I saw Sirius and Remy and Leona, they’re off getting up to no good with the sparklers,” Pansy said.

“I think that was the compromise position on Sirius and Remy dancing literally all night per Leona’s request and Sirius and Remy _not_ dancing so he doesn’t leave Leona out of things per Sirius’s,” Harry said, laughing. “I think you were outside for that argument too.”

“Yes, because apparently being the sex police is my job tonight,” Pansy said.

“Well, not _all_ night,” Harry said, innocently, laughing. “You look very nice in that dress.”

“I can’t believe I actually went with purple,” Pansy said, with a sigh, moving her chair so she could lean against his shoulder.

“By nice I mean ravishing,” Harry said. “Draco agrees.”

“ _I_ don’t, I have to stay off everyone so I don’t muck up their dresses or dress robes,” Thaxia muttered. “Well. Except Kit and Lethe, I suppose that’s all right.”

“The tragedy,” Pansy said. “I’ll cuddle you extra later to make up for it.”

“Hey,” Harry protested.

“I might cuddle you extra too,” Pansy said. “Depending on how many more trips out to the gardens I have to make.”

“That’s just unfair, you can’t look that good and foist us off just because you’ve been supervising hundreds of children all night,” Draco said, coming up behind her to drop a kiss on her neck.

“See, I’m not the only one who likes the purple,” Harry teased, leaning up for a kiss from Draco too. “How’d your perimeter check go?”

“Mostly decently, I had to boot a few people out of your office,” Draco said.

“What, did you leave it unlocked?” Pansy said. “Harry!”

“I most assuredly did not,” Harry said, laughing.

“It’s true, you can’t really blame Harry, I did have to let them out again,” Draco agreed.

“I don’t think I want to know,” Pansy said.

“Well, that’s nice of you, mother,” Gemma said, laughing, as she stepped around the corner.

“I was going to say, you might, actually,” Harry said, grinning. “Hi, darling.”

“Hi, da,” she said, kissing his cheek.

“You’re not supposed to be back for an entire week!” Pansy protested, staring. “What on earth’s going on? Is everything all right? Are you okay? Why are you in a dress?”

“Dying for some dinner and a glass of wine, but Dominique’s gone to get it and find Aly,” Gemma said, grinning. “I’m fine, mum. They let us come home early. We just thought we’d surprise you with us coming to the ball.”

“I’m going to kill _all_ of you,” Pansy said, getting up to pull Gemma into a fierce hug. “You’ll have ruined my make up.”

“Oh, mine too, that’s why they make charms to fix that sort of thing,” Gemma said, laughing, and swiped a hand at the back of her eyes. “Don’t, I already cried when I saw dad and twice on the way over and if you start, I won’t stop.”

“You’d better not, you get all puffy,” Kerr said, flying to the back of a chair and settling in. “Hi, Kit, Thaxia. Lethe.”

“Kerr!” Thaxia said, hopping up on the chair to nudge her nose against his beak. “How was France? Were there enough mice to eat? Harry never owls anything and Pansy kept _forgetting_ you because she is a horrible parent.”

“I asked after him in every owl, thank you,” Pansy said, laughing.

“And I knew your mother and Aly were writing and figured you didn’t need a million owls a day,” Harry said, dryly. “But obviously, you can tell that I don’t love you.”

“Oh, I know,” Gemma agreed. “Can you do that sticky thing you do for mum’s make up before I cry it all off when I see Aly?”

“Oh, I suppose,” Harry said, laughing, and waved a hand, leaning up to hug her. “Though you look lovely with or without it.”

“Shut it, da,” she said, beaming.

“Look who I saved from all the Slytherin boys,” Dominique said, coming up the stairs. Ximenes bounded up on her heels. 

“Oh my god, you weren’t fucking with me,” Alcyone said, staring, and Gemma laughed and then burst into tears again and met her half way up the stairs, hugging her close.

“Oh, I _missed_ you,” she said. “I told Dom we’re not taking any more bloody international assignments.”

“After listening to four months of her complaining about how she missed all of you, we are certainly not,” Dominique said, dryly. “I suppose my mother and father are around here somewhere? I should say hello.”

“Do you need anything?” Gemma said, turning without letting go of Aly. “Your food’s going to get cold –“

“Stop _hovering_ , chéri,” Dominique said, and leaned to kiss her cheek. “I have a charm on it. And I will come back. I just want to see mother and father and possibly spy on Remy and Sirius. Save me a dance, Aly. I promise I’m much nicer than the Slytherin boys. And of course I still expect preferential treatment from professors, so you too, Harry, Draco.”

“I’ll save you a dance, but your niece isn’t putting her veela heritage to much good,” Harry said, laughing. “I think they’re running around playing with fireworks.”

“Oh, well,” Dominique said. “She’s still little. She will grow into it. We’ll be right back. On y va, Xim!”

“Dragged through portkey from France _and_ no gossip, the horror,” Ximenes said.

“That’s not reassuring!” Pansy yelled after her, laughing.

“Poor Sirius, he’s got no idea what he’s gotten himself into,” Gemma said, hugging Aly again.

“None whatsoever,” Draco said, moving some chairs. “Aly, say things before one of us is forced to check your vitals.”

“I’m okay,” Alcyone said, laughing softly, and buried her face against Gemma’s shoulder. “You’re absolutely never leaving for that long again. Or I’m coming with.”

“The seventh years will be very distraught,” Gemma said, laughing. “They’re all at a loss without you over there.”

“Well, bugger that,” Aly said, grabbing her hand. “Come eat. You have to tell me everything!”

“I went to France, I dealt with ghosts in France, I drank a lot of wine, I did a lot of camping, I took a portkey to da’s office, I’m here,” Genevieve said, dryly. “It was not an exciting trip. Mostly.”

“Oh, mostly,” Pansy said, glancing at her. “No news?”

“Later, mother,” Gemma said, laughing. “Please just let me eat and have fun at the party.”

“Put me on Kerr,” Sorcha demanded. “Thaxia, move, he’s mine.”

“I think there’s room for both of you,” Kit said, dryly, as Aly let Sorcha slither down her arm to wrap around the back of the chair, tucking herself against Kerr’s feet. “Don’t everybody go to pieces over Genevieve at once.”

“Logic only makes them irritable,” Harry said. “Nice try though.”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Kerr said, stepping from one foot to the other. “Move me to someone’s lap and then you can both get in with me.”

“Here,” Aly said, picking him up gently, then laughing when Thaxia and Sorcha followed immediately. 

“Well, at least I know you missed us,” Gemma said, between bites of duck. “Mum, everything looks splendid, I think you’ve outdone yourself.”

“Oh,” Pansy said, looking pleased. “Well, everyone helped. But it’s much better now that you’re here.”

“Definitely,” Aly agreed. “Um, are you staying after the ball? Or going with Dominique? Or… something?”

Gemma paused, then kicked her under the table. “Being where you are,” she said. “As if I came all the way back to _not_ be home with you.”

“Well, if you want,” Aly said.

“Da already told me what you did with the upstairs, I think it’s brilliant,” Gemma said. “And we can talk about things _later_. God, you lot are like sharks.” 

“I think sharks are probably more civilized,” Harry said, laughing.

“They really are,” Draco agreed. “Let Genevieve eat.”

“I’m fine,” Gemma protested, laughing. “I’m going to have wine and maybe dance and do disgustingly embarrassing older sister things to Sirius and Leona and then pass out for the weekend in Aly’s bed.”

“And oil my feathers, you promised,” Kerr said.

“I’ll do that,” Alcyone said, stroking his head. “Gem can sleep.”

“Okay,” Kerr agreed. “You put our sun lamp in the new rooms, didn’t you?”

Sorcha made a noise. “Like I’d _survive_ winter here if they hadn’t.”

“Still not a real snake,” Harry said, dryly.

Sorcha muttered something in Parseltongue.

“Rude,” Thaxia scolded. “Be nice to Harry.”

“I suppose I deserved that for trying to keep Sorcha away from any heat source whatsoever,” Harry said, laughing.

“Too true,” Gemma said, pushing her plate back with a smile. “You know better, da.”

“Ugh,” Ximenes said, leaping up onto Gemma’s lap. “I’ve been thoroughly pounced on, don’t anyone try it here. Is that duck?”

“Yes, and yes, I left you some, and yes, I’m sure Dom got you extra,” Gemma said, laughing. She reached to feed him a piece. “No grabbing off my plate.”

“I might miss France,” Ximenes sighed. “On the other hand, cooked duck is much better than raw.”

“You did _not_ have to eat raw duck,” Pansy said, sounding vaguely appalled.

“Of course not, mother,” Gemma said, laughing. “Only I’ve got a raptor daemon who _hunts ducks_ , so he and Xim ate a lot of them while we were in the field.”

“I caught plenty too,” Ximenes protested.

“You did,” Kerr said, jumping to Gemma’s lap too.

“No talons on the dress,” Gemma said, firmly. “Only on my shoulder, Kerr.”

“Mean,” Kerr said, climbing to perch on Xim’s back.

“I agree,” said Thaxia. “This no dress rule is nonsense.”

Aly snorted, spelling her dress back to its original condition and removing the snags in the grey silk. “If I wanted to spend all night casting spells, I’d agree, but I don’t.”

“Everyone looks lovely,” Dominique said, dropping into a chair next to Harry. “Pansy, I’m not certain how you convinced two teenage girls to look stunning _and_ to be classy, but I would be horribly tempted to steal Leona’s dress if it would fit.”

“Sequins,” Pansy said, laughing. “And, in Remy’s case, her apparent conviction that a backless dress with a front that shows nothing whatsoever is quite daring.”

“Sirius is looking at her as if it is,” Dominique said, laughing. “Well – not quite like that. The look every boy gets at this ball when they realize all their female classmates clean up nicely. Or their dates, in his case.”

“The look some girls get too,” Pansy teased.

“Oh, fine,” Dominique said, laughing. “You’ve caught me. I suspect I got more girls out of dresses at these dances than any of the boys did.”

“Yes, thank you for taking years off my life,” Draco said. “I did so appreciate that.”

“De rien,” Dominique said, laughing. “I was really no worse than Victorie.”

“Victorie stuck to one person,” Harry said, laughing. “You were a terror.”

“Yes, well, “Dominique said, glancing at Gemma. “Being a teenager is very challenging when you’re still figuring out what you want.” She laughed. “Or when you want a lot of things.”

“Every bloody girl in the castle, apparently,” Harry teased.

“Don’t worry, I think Remy will take after her mother,” Dominique said, laughing. “She seems quite smitten.”

“Well, at least there’s no risk of Sirius being Head Boy and having his own room,” Pansy said, dryly. “Oh, wait. He’s already got that.”

Draco snorted. “Leona has issued direct complaints to the parental management that there have only been a few kisses and no snogging.”

“Not to worry,” Dominique said, laughing. “Fifth year is when all the veela hormones hit.”

“I’m not sure how effective that sort of thing is going to be on Sirius,” Harry said, laughing.

“Hmm, yes,” Dominique said, leaning back in her chair and offering some duck to Xim. “He clearly didn’t notice any changes over this summer, you know. Let alone next when he’s dating a girl he adores and she starts turning into a beautiful woman.”

“You’re just the sort of person every parent wants around reassuring them about their teenage son,” Pansy said, laughing.

Dominique laughed too. “I’ll talk to her if Victorie doesn’t before spring,” she said. “It can be – disconcerting to realize the fact that you love someone gives you the ability to manipulate their behavior without meaning to. But not to worry, Remy has less veela blood. And is, I think, not very interested in boys, only Sirius.”

“And Sirius isn’t very interested in girls, only Remy,” Alcyone said, a bit sharply. “So I somehow suspect we’ll all survive their adolescence.”

“Mm,” Dominique agreed, glancing at her, and Gemma made a face.

“Don’t _start_ ,” she said, firmly, leaning to kiss Aly’s cheek. “You haven’t the least idea.”

“No, I do not,” Alcyone agreed. “Though not for lack of effort.” She glanced at the clock. “I suppose I ought to go let Archfield off the hook on the gardens. It’s my turn.”

“Aly –“ Gemma said.

“Duty calls,” Aly said, sweeping her dress out carefully and heading back down the stairs.

“Well, that went swimmingly,” Kerr said. 

“ _You_ are being all –“ Gemma said, glaring at Dominique, and made a hand gesture.

“Damn,” Dominique said, with a sigh. “I’m sorry. Perhaps I ought to talk to myself and not Remy. I didn’t think –“

“No, you did _not_ ,” Ximenes said, irritably. “I’m all –“ 

“Ta gueule,” Dominique snapped. “I am perfectly aware.”

“Enough,” Harry said, firmly. “You lot have had a long trip and a long evening and, I suspect, a long few months. Let’s _not_ start fighting in the middle of a lovely evening.” He leaned to kiss Gemma’s forehead. “You’re tired. Dominique is tired. Aly is also very tired. There’s nothing that can’t be sorted after the ball. Or tomorrow morning.”

“Agreed,” Kit said. “Xim, come to Lethe.”

“I was napping,” Lethe muttered. “Why do I get baby daemon duty?”

“Because you’re the calmest?” Kit said, dryly. “What, do you want me to put Thaxia on it?”

“Hey,” Thaxia protested. “I’m good at things.”

“Yes, which is why you’re mine,” Kit said. “Xim, here. Now.”

“Do I –“ Ximenes said, sounding unsure, and Dominique propped her head in her hand with a half smile.

“I will still never be used to you six and the way you work, and I’ve been around it nearly my entire life,” she said, laughing softly. “Yes. Go to Lethe. She will make you feel better, I think.”

Ximenes padded over, curling up between Lethe’s front paws, and she tucked her head over him. “I’m going back to my nap,” she informed him. “You stay here.”

“Thaxia?” Kit said.

“Oh, all right,” she said, hopping down to go groom his whiskers. “Only because I’m not allowed on Pansy’s dress.”

“Are you all right?” Pansy murmured, reaching out a hand to Gemma.

“Da’s hit on it, I’m tired,” she admitted. “And I was – hoping to put some things off that clearly can’t be put off.”

“I’m sorry,” Dominique said again, looking rather upset. “I can’t help –“ 

“I know,” Gemma said. “It’s all right.”

“It is,” Draco said. “You and Aly are always fine, and _you_ and Aly are always fine.” He smiled. “Dominique, would you care to dance? Lethe will stay with Xim.”

“I – oh, all right,” she said. “Thank you, Draco.” She laughed. “Or, I suppose, under the circumstances, Professor Malfoy.”

“Draco,” he said, firmly, laughing. “You’re too old for that. Come on. I suppose I shall fall on the sword of dancing with the most beautiful woman here other than my wife and daughters.”

“My mother is around, don’t let her hear you say that,” Dominique warned, laughing. “But flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Maybe I prefer redheads,” Draco teased.

“Signs point to brunettes and blonds,” Dominique said. She took his extended hand. “You’ll be all right, Gem?”

“Yes, it’ll be nice to catch up with mum and da,” she said. “Go dance with dad. Then maybe the kids, you know they adore you.”

“I suppose _someone_ has to drag them away from the firecrackers,” Dominique said. “Up for the task, Draco?”

“ _Technically_ , I suppose Leona belongs to one of us,” Draco said. “Getting to come to the ball as a third year and all.”

“See, we shall have to ask her to dance too,” Dominique said, with a smile. “We’ll be back later. Dors bien, Xim.”

“Shh, you’ll wake them,” Thaxia said, laughing. “Team canine is quite adept at sleeping through formal functions.”

“Probably because I wish I could,” Draco said. “Back soon. We can start sending these terrible children to bed at some point.”

“Ah, my favorite part of the night,” Pansy teased. “Leave a dance for me.”

“Of course,” Draco said, with a smile. “I love you.”

“You too,” Pansy said.

“Always so flattering with another woman on your arm,” Dominique teased.

“I’m somehow not too concerned about hurting your feelings,” Draco said, laughing.

“Oh, better yet,” Dominique said, with a small wave, following him down the stairs.

“I really need more wine,” Gemma said, with a sigh. “Possibly a portkey back to France. Alone. We’ll eat duck.”

“Well, I can oblige one of those requests,” Harry said, summoning a bottle from the stores and opening it. “Pansy?”

“Yes, please,” she said. “Would you like a privacy charm, sweetheart?”

“I suppose,” Gemma said, with a sigh. “I just wanted to enjoy the evening, I was hoping I could sort that _later_. Like after Sirius and the girls had gone to bed.”

“Best laid plans,” Harry said, scooting his chair closer so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders, handing over her wine. “We love you.”

“We do,” Pansy agreed, moving over to her other side.

“I suppose that’s all made it rather obvious that we’re seeing each other,” Gemma said, with another sigh.

“Amazingly, we did sort of see that one coming,” Harry said, kissing her temple. “Though I’ve no idea what Aly thinks or knows beyond that she’s worried about where you’re going to live.”

“I didn’t think Dom was going to go over all… possessively veela on me at _Aly_ ,” Gemma said, with a sigh, leaning against Pansy. “And I sort of thought Aly would understand that I didn’t want to put something like that in an _owl_.” She paused. “You don’t – mind, do you? I know… she’s a woman, and she’s a bit older than me, and it’s…”

“Genevieve,” Harry said, laughing softly. “Have you, perhaps, noticed that you have three parents and that two of us are men?”

“Well, it might be different,” she said. “Or – I don’t know.”

“Gemma, love, we are your parents,” Pansy said, gently. “If you’re happy, we’re happy. Of course we don’t mind if you date another woman. And it’s not as if she’s thirty years older. Or, well, as if we’d mind all that much if she were so long as you were happy.”

“Okay,” Gemma said, letting out a breath. “That helps.”

“You are so much like your dad sometimes,” Pansy said, brushing a curl of hair off her face with a soft laugh.

“Agreed,” Harry said. “And thank god he’s done this a few times, otherwise I’d have no idea on _earth_ how there was a path to worrying that we’d ever love you less because of _anything_.”

“Yes, well, camping in the woods and creeping around cemeteries and old villas on stakeout gives you a lot of time to think,” Gemma muttered, taking a swallow of wine. “And to get together with your Auror partner and panic about how everyone’s going to take it. And she got all –“ Gemma made a face. “I think she might _actually_ be worse than you about coercion, da. There was a lot of very unnecessary panicking that I’d succumbed to her veela charms or something. After this long! Honestly.”

“Well, that’s a rather high bar,” Harry observed. “Brava, Dominique.”

“Darling, are you worried that Alcyone will be mad?” Pansy said, gently.

“Yes, no, I don’t know,” Gemma said, with a sigh. “She’s already mad.”

“She’s stressed and she just got hit by a bunch of… veela territorial magic,” Harry said, gently. “Dominique’s going to have to get used to being around you with people you’re close with, she hasn’t had to share you yet. And Aly’s going to have to get used to sharing a bit more than she has, but I think she’s afraid you’re going to forget about her.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Gemma said. “She’s my sister and my best friend. I already told Dom we were living where Aly was, even if it was here, and she said yes.” She paused. “Okay, actually, she said I would be insufferable if I wasn’t near my family and she’d much rather we live here than London and that it would be nice to see her parents and Remy more often, but… um. Same outcome.”

“Love, I think the easiest thing here is to go find Alcyone and tell her that,” Harry said. “Tell her you want to share the flat above ours. She’s not going to mind if Dominique is there too so long as you are.”

“I agree,” Pansy said. “I think she’s been lonely, and she loves you. And prior to tonight, she’s always adored Dominique too, so I hardly think she’s going to protest.”

“Do you think –“ Gemma considered. “I’m never sure if it’s strange that we’re so inseparable. I mean, me and Aly, but isn’t it a little odd that I’m an adult with a girlfriend and considering sharing a floor with my little brother and sister?”

“You two are practically twins,” Harry said, gently. “And you were raised in a family by parents who value love and intimacy because none of us had much of it growing up. We’d never stop any of you from doing anything you wanted, we will _always_ support you, but if what you want is to live here, then live here.”

“You never have to stay, but you never have to go if you don’t want to,” Pansy said, gently. “And, really, you’re not sharing a floor with them, the door to your flat happens to be in the same place as their bedrooms. Darling –“ She laughed. “I see your point, love, but we did not raise you with the parenting philosophy that we were going to be finished when you were eighteen. We have a for life family. As in, you’re a part of it for life, no matter where you go or what you do with your life, and you will always, always have us.”

“Unfortunately for Sirius,” Gemma said, laughing softly.

“Oh, he loves us, he just doesn’t know it yet,” Harry said, laughing. “Or, well, he’s in a stage where he’d rather not admit it. But it’s cute, he claims it’s Leona and Remy’s idea but we had to put a quick transfigure spell on the couch to turn it into a bed, they’ve all been sleeping in a pile there every weekend. Because Sirius is so worried Leona might feel left out of his relationship with Remy.” He paused. “Well, also because I think Lethe, Kit, and Thaxia keep sneaking out to share and Tierney likes it, but that’s besides the point.”

“If your sixteen year old brother is that willing to hang around with his thirteen year old sister, I hardly think you and Aly need to worry,” Pansy said, dryly.

“Damn, I sort of wish I were sixteen again,” Gemma said, laughing. “Just stuffing them both on a couch in the living room every night would be a perfectly workable solution if I didn’t think Dominique would… object.”

“Quite,” Kerr said, fluffing up his feathers. “It would be nice and warm.”

“It’s a little less workable as an adult in a relationship,” Harry teased. “Especially with Dominique Weasley, I would imagine.”

Gemma flushed. “Oh, shut it,” she said. “It’s not her fault she’s all… veela-y and charming and smart and tall and attractive and… things.”

“Oh, things,” Pansy said, laughing. “I think things probably contribute quite a bit to the appeal of Dominique.”

“You shut it too, I do not like her just because she’s good in bed,” Gemma said, then turned more red. “Damn it! Mum, I am not discussing this with either of you. _Or_ dad. It’s private.”

“Thank god, because Leona and Sirius will probably kill us with horrifying questions,” Harry said, laughing. “We’re here if you want anything, but you’re an adult and… well, it’s Dominique. I really think you’re better off asking her.”

Pansy swatted him. “Questions we are _open to_ ,” she said. “Because we are always open to questions or if you need advice or information. For any of you.”

“Shockingly, I’d rather not,” Gemma said. “Not that I don’t appreciate the effort, mum.”

“I did try,” Pansy said. “But your father’s right, I think I’m better suited to helping pick furniture than giving any sort of advice on lesbian sex.”

“Yes, _please_ , I have no idea what color to paint anything, let’s talk about that,” Gemma said. “Neutrals? Accent walls? Can we have some of da’s creatures like in the office and Sirius’ room?”

“Yes,” Harry said, laughing. “I’ve been looking for a place to put some streaked tenrecs, would those do? They’re really fascinating, you know, they attack with quills like porcupines but they’ve got this magical residue that –“

“Da, I love you, but no talking about convergent evolution at the ball,” Gemma said, laughing. “ _Please_. And to be fair, mum’s not allowed to talk about publications and dad’s not allowed to go on about his trip to Costa Rica. I got enough of that on the way back from your office.”

“Hah,” Harry said. “Well, we’re not listening to any French ghost stories then.”

“Honestly, quite possibly the most boring assignment I’ve been on, _ever_ ,” Genevieve said, with a sigh. “But I know it was just an excuse to get us out for four months so they can rearrange the departments and to promote us.” She made a face. “I tried to name about thirty completely ridiculous conditions I’d need met before I’d agree to it, and they’ve met all of them so now I have to follow through. I told Dom she had to do all the bloody press conferences. We’re getting violent and serial crimes, I told them if they tried to stick us with Ministry white collar nonsense I would quite literally quit. But now I’ve even got my own magicopathologist, so I think it’s come around all right.” She grinned. “And I made them transfer us all the good people and transfer Robinson all the useless ones, so there _is_ that consolation.”

“Did you hear any of that?” Harry said. “I don’t know, it was all rather vague and work related.”

“Yes, at the _ball_ ,” Pansy agreed. “I’m afraid I missed it too.”

“You pretend to be good parents, but really, you’re terrible,” Gemma said, laughing.

“We’re proud of you, sweetheart,” Pansy said, with a smile. “But we’re very glad to have you home. And I’ll install a secure access point to wherever you’d like in your rooms for you and Dominique so you can floo to work.”

“Perks of being related to the Headmistress,” Harry said. “Love, I rather suspect Aly’s still stomping around in the cold, and that’s not going to improve her mood.” He kissed her forehead. “Just go talk to her. Maybe _lead_ with that you’re going to live here.”

“She took Sorcha, maybe lead with stuffing her up your sleeve,” Kerr muttered.

“If we need help later…” Gemma said, pausing. 

“Then you know we’re here, and so’s your dad,” Harry said. “But she missed you and I suspect she’s a bit afraid she’s been replaced as your best friend.”

“And _possibly_ point out to Dominique that she’s usually rather decent at spreading her veela charm around,” Pansy said. “Only it really just feels warm and friendly when you’re straight, so I doubt Aly’s noticed.”

Gemma snorted. “Mum, are you suggesting I ask Dominique to use veela sex magic on my sister?”

“ _Friendly_ veela magic,” Pansy said, laughing. “As opposed to the hostile sort.”

“Wait, dad likes men _and_ women,” Gemma said, making a face. “Should I be traumatized?”

“He was well and thoroughly tied down before she got old enough to grow into said magic,” Harry said, laughing. “I’m not saying most of the teenage boys at the ball won’t notice, but your dad likes her because she’s feisty and a Slytherin. Nothing to do with the veela thing.”

“Oh, all right,” Gemma said, laughing. “I’ll tell her she has to dance with Aly or they’re sleeping on the couch with Sirius and Leona while I take every bed in the tower.”

“Utterly fair,” Pansy agreed. “We’re doing the usual after.”

“Ooh, solstice spells,” Gemma said, with a smile. “Though I’ll be a little sad to have my old one fade, I liked dad’s last year.”

“Yes, well, that is the point,” Harry said, laughing softly. “Fresh start and all.”

“I know, I know,” Gemma said. “And that you have to switch off because you all love us and other boring parent lies.”

“Not to worry, we’ve made one for Dominique,” Harry said, laughing. “And Remy. Since we sort of figured they might be tagging along to the usual family party. And we’re pretending to like them as well.”

“That’s sweet, da,” Gemma said, giving him a hug as she stood up. “Mum. You’ll have a few hours after everyone leaves tomorrow to catch up, won’t you? I think Dominique going to stay here for a few days and then head home, but we just assumed we were doing the usual giant combined thing at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione’s for Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning with our families and then Christmas dinner together again.”

“Absolutely, darling,” Pansy said. “I’d say before everyone left, but, well, we all know that’s a complete and total lie. And yes, same as usual.”

“Almost as if we’ve had that plan in place for several decades,” Harry teased. “You and Dominique will have to take the pressure off poor Sirius, he’s worried about getting caught under mistletoe in front of Teddy and Victorie.”

“Fabulous, thank you, something I hadn’t thought of to worry about,” Gemma said, dryly.

“Oh, please,” Pansy said. “It’s not as if _everyone_ doesn’t get caught under it. You can kiss on the cheek.”

“Mother, I’m going to give you fair warning that it’s _Dominique_ ,” Gemma said, cheeks going a little red. “And she’s got a well over a decade of Teddy and Victorie to catch up on and a competitive streak. I’m doomed. Please look away.”

“Oh, obviously,” Pansy said, laughing. “We’ll see you in a bit, darling. Go find Aly.”

“Love you,” Gemma said, with a smile, reaching for Kerr. “I _will_ be back for that wine.”

“We’ll save you some,” Pansy said, laughing, and waved as she left, then leaned against Harry for a moment.

“Happy to have them all under one roof again?” he teased.

“Don’t start,” Pansy said, laughing softly. “Actually, yes, very, I’m at loose ends when I don’t have all their…” She waved a hand. “Questions and happy things and fights and Quidditch victories and god knows what else to fuss over. You’d think an entire castle full of children would be plenty, you know.”

“Yes, well, those ones are ours,” Harry said, with a smile. “It’s a bit different.”

“I know,” Pansy said. “They’re all – it’s funny, the older they get, the more alike they are, but in the strangest ways. I don’t think we can particularly blame genes.”

“Yes, well,” Kit said, under the table, setting his head in Harry’s lap with a yawn. “They may not have the same genes, but their souls are all made up of the same pieces.” He laughed. “I suppose you could say I see a lot of Thaxia in Sirius and a lot of Lethe in Genevieve.”

“You make it sound like we threw diced bits of you into a potion,” Pansy said, laughing. “Even _Lexington_ hasn’t the faintest idea how that whole process works, and people have been studying it for decades.”

“Some things are just beyond knowing,” Kit said, closing his eyes as Harry stroked his head. “Pansy let Thaxia into her lap.”

“I know,” Harry said, laughing. “And she’s fallen asleep like Lethe and Xim. I suppose we’ll just carry you all home.”

“Do you think Gemma’s right?” Pansy said, finally. “That I’m too –“ She waved a hand. “Protective?”

“Oh, yes, you were solely responsible for every parenting decision we made from the moment Alcyone was conceived,” Harry teased, then leaned in for a kiss, still rubbing behind Kit’s ears. “Love, they’re smart and funny and talented and kind, decent people. And even though Draco and I fought you tooth and nail over whether or not they ought to stay here or go to another school, I think we were wrong, because this isn’t just a place they lived as teenagers and started to grow into adults, it’s been their home all along. And unlike nearly every witch and wizard here, yes, they didn’t have the shock of leaving home when they went off to school, they just moved, but…” He paused.

“But, you’re being daft,” Draco said, laughing, as he kissed Harry’s forehead and sun down into a chair. “I only caught the back end of that, by the way. You’ve left the charm up. Dominique and Aly seem to have mended ways. They’re traumatizing every boy in the castle by dancing.”

“You’ve missed the entire conversation, you can’t possibly say,” Pansy said, laughing. “Mean.”

“Are we fussing about whether the children are too attached or not attached enough or traumatized by having too many parents on the faculty again?” Draco said.

“Yes,” Kit said. “Only I think she means it this time.”

“Pansy,” Draco said, patiently. “A very long time ago, you made me promise that our children would have something. What was it?”

“I’ve no idea,” Pansy said. “Though it’s probably in the contract somewhere.”

“You’ve every idea,” Draco said, dryly. “You made me promise that no matter what happened in the world or between us or at Hogwarts, they would have a home and a family.” He laughed. “Way back when we were a few years older than Sirius and making all sorts of excellent decisions and hating Gryffindors and hashing out having our theoretical heir and a spare. So?”

“Well, obviously that’s gone to hell in a handbasket,” Pansy said.

“No, I mean, so, do they?” Draco said. “Do you think that any one of our children doubts for a single moment that they have a home they can return to or a family they can count on?”

“No,” Pansy said, finally. “I think they know.”

“There you go, then,” Harry said, with a smile. “We’ve given them all the unalienable belief that they belong somewhere.”

“Oh, all right,” Pansy said. “Don’t make me cry again.”

“I mean it,” Harry said. “If you want to know why they keep coming back here, it’s because that’s a rare thing to have, and they’re realizing it. To have a place where you always know exactly where you stand and where the love is unconditional. I wouldn’t leave, either.” He smiled. “Well, I haven’t since I walked into it, have I?”

“I’d hardly call it unconditional, I’m _still_ banned from the bath taps,” Draco teased, gently. 

“ _Damn_ ,” Pansy said. “I hate being married to both of you.”

“Very much, clearly,” Draco said. “Come on. One dance before we call this off? Harry, go cut in so Aly can lean on you and absorb some of your odd Gryffindor qualities and get warmed up by Thaxia, and so Gemma can get one in with Dominique.” He held out a hand to Pansy. “I will be quite unhappy if you step on my toes, Pansy.”

“Staying here,” Kit said, firmly.

“Yes, yes, we all know, you’ll be trampled,” Pansy said, stroking Thaxia gently. ”Thaxia, wake up, Aly needs you.”

“What?” Thaxia said, sitting up. “What’s wrong? Where is she?”

Harry laughed. “No Sirius at all there,” he teased, ruffling Kit’s fur. “She’s fine. But I’d like a dance with her, and her gown is lovely but I’m sure all that lace is rather thin. Perhaps she’d like a stole.”

“Well, obviously we can’t have that,” Thaxia said, yawning and hopping over to his lap. “Come on. It’s nearly the end of the night.”

“It’s nearly the end of the _ball_ ,” Harry corrected, laughing. “Don’t forget about the rest.”

“Oh, all right,” Thaxia said, climbing up to his shoulders. “Let’s go dance with Aly.”

A few hours later, most of the students had been herded back to their respective rooms. Pansy had finally finished taking – and making everyone else take – a few hundred photographs of everyone in formalwear, and Thaxia had finally hidden herself in the sofa in protest.

“Okay, everyone can go change,” Draco said. “Harry and I will do the cocoa.”

“Oh,” Dominique said, hiding a yawn behind her hand. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll just head to bed. It has been a _very_ long day. But you should have family time.”

“Very, _very_ long,” Ximenes said.

“No, wait,” Gemma said, reaching to grab her wrist, then blushed. “We always – we’ve got this thing we do on solstice? It’s our… family new year. Sort of.”

“Well, you should do that, of course,” Dominique said, with a pause. “I thought you were sharing with Aly?”

“I am, only it’s – important,” Gemma said.

“Very important,” Leona agreed. “I’ve only been allowed to do it for three years, and Remy’s never been, so you should stay.”

“Er, neither of you warned me about anything,” Remy said, looking dubious. “I thought we were just sleeping on the couch like usual.”

“You lot make it sound like it’s the most important thing ever to happen in the history of the universe,” Pansy said, laughing. “It’s really not. We started it a long time ago when Aly and Gemma were younger. It’s just some small gifts.”

“Mum, it’s _important_ ,” Gemma said, firmly.

“You shouldn’t miss it,” Kerr agreed.

“Yeah, it is,” Sirius agreed, glancing at Remy. “And it’s – um. Nice that mum and dad and da have made you something, I think.”

“What my idiot brother and sister are trying to say is that this is our family tradition and a bit of a secret, so it’s rather a big deal that our parents decided to include you,” Alcyone said. “Because we love you both, and because you both have at least one person here who… cares about you very much, you should be a part of it.”

“Oh,” Remy said, looking down at her toes, cheeks going red. “Well. Um. Do I put on pajamas first?”

“Usually,” Pansy said, with a smile. “Every other year everyone’s dying to get out of their dress robes and dresses.”

“Mm,” Dominique said, glancing at Gemma. “I don’t have a gift for anyone in exchange.”

“You’re not supposed to,” Sirius said. “It’s like – from them to us.” He shrugged. “I dunno. Aly and Gemma have been doing it the longest, they should have to explain.”

“Our parents came up with it, _they_ should have to explain,” Gemma said.

“Aly’s the oldest, she can explain,” Sorcha said, from where she was looped around Aly’s wrist.

“Look, it’s weird Potter-Malfoy magic,” Aly said, rolling her eyes. “We each get something for the year that’s transfigured from a spell or made out of a spell, and it lasts all year. And our parents draw names out of a hat, but it rotates, so you never get the same one two years in a row. I suppose you _all_ got two this year, though.”

“We did,” Harry said, laughing. “Thank you for making it a bit more even, ladies. Why don’t you just go and change? It’s easier to see than to try to explain.”

“It is,” Leona agreed. “But it means that they love us, that’s the important part.”

“Exactly,” Aly agreed.

“If it’s important to you, I’ll stay up,” Dominique said, finally, with a small smile. “No promises for Xim, though.”

“I’m finding Thaxia,” he agreed.

“It’s –“ Gemma sighed, then stood on her toes and kissed Dominique’s cheek. “It means we’re for real, all right? Not that we weren’t before, but it means you’re part of the family. If you want to be.”

“Oh,” Dominique said, looking a little startled, and glanced at Remy, who had gone an even deeper shade of red.

“You’re here because of me _and_ Sirius,” Leona told her, finding her hand to squeeze with a grin. “It’s not like you’re married all of a sudden or something. We just love you.”

“You have to _warn_ us about things,” Pascha muttered, hiding himself further in Remy’s hair.

“Good lord, stop dramatizing the whole thing,” Pansy said, laughing. “You’ll scare them both half to death. Just go change. Harry will start the fire. Alcyone, show Genevieve and Dominique upstairs, will you?”

“I have pajamas for you in my room don’t worry,” Leona said, tugging at Remy, who was still looking at Sirius. “Come on.”

“What Gemma said,” he said, with a smile. “Go on.”

Leona pulled Remy up the stairs, and Sirius followed a minute later after he heard the door.

“Our trunks should be here by now,” Gemma said. “Or one of them. I hope. Otherwise, you’re borrowing from Aly.”

“Because you’re tiny,” Dominique said, fondly. “Harry, Draco, I don’t think either of us would mind firewhiskey if you’ve got it.”

Draco snorted. “Oh ye of little faith in the Potter-Malfoy liquor stores,” he teased. “Aly, you too?”

“Yes, please,” she said. “Come on, I’ll show you upstairs.”

“God, they’re so weird about this,” Pansy said, shaking her head.

“Or they look forward to it all year and all spend ages trying to figure out who has whom,” Harry said, laughing. “I can see why it would be a big deal for Gemma, love. And Remy too, I suppose, though she’s here more often than she isn’t.”

“It’s important to them,” Kit agreed.

“Popular survey says all four of them think this is better than Christmas,” Draco agreed, laughing. “So I don’t really know why we bother to go to any trouble _there_.”

“Because we’d be roasted alive for not doing an adequate job at Christmas?” Lethe hazarded.

“Totally not done shopping, not going to be done shopping until Christmas eve, we’re not talking about it,” Pansy said, laughing. “I’m going to go get out of this thing.”

Harry snorted. “Yes, that thing where we do all our Christmas shopping in July and are never running around at the last minute,” he said, kissing her cheek.

Harry got the fire going while Draco sat out mugs of hot chocolate for everyone, and by the time Harry had finished changing and gotten his gifts, everyone was clustered in front of the fire.

“Lethe’s on kid duty,” Kit said, with a yawn. “I will enjoy while examining the insides of my eyelids from the couch.”

“You know, it’s not as if we’re _five_ ,” Sorcha said, dryly.

“Don’t bother,” Harry said. “You’ll always be little to us. Well –“ He laughed. “We all respect and adore you as adults, but you’ll be Thaxia’s babies forever.” 

“And mine,” Lethe agreed. “Though I happen to live in hope that once you’ve picked a form, you’ll _stay groomed_ ,” she said, sighing at Rhys.

“I never picked furry ones,” he protested. “Now I have _ridiculous_ amounts of fur.”

“Still totally lacking in the feather oiling department,” Kerr said, with a heavy sigh. “Though at least I’m allowed to _stand_ on people now.”

“You’re so mistreated,” Tierney said, dryly, curling up next to Sirius.

“Okay, okay,” Draco said. “You lot, shut up, someone will hassle Leona on her brushing skills later, but –“

“But, solstice presents!” Leona said, gleefully.

“Yes, solstice presents,” Pansy said, laughing. “Same as for Leona the first time we got to do this, we’ll explain so you aren’t totally lost. We started this a long time ago so when the girls were too young to go to the ball, they could still have something to look forward to on solstice night. And then it sort of turned into a weird family tradition because apparently you lot liked it.” She laughed. “So we all three decide on – a spell for you, or a potion, or… I think Sirius got one from a plant once, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, two years ago,” Sirius said.

“So sometimes other things,” Pansy said. “Whatever it is, the magic represents our wish for you for the coming year. Something we hope you’ll have when you need it. It’s a physical thing made out of magic, which Harry picked up on how to do from studying magical creatures, but it’s not _actually_ a spell, it won’t work as one, it’s just made of one.”

“Huh,” Dominique said. “So it’s like saying a bracelet is made out of gold, only instead, you’ve made the links out of magic.”

“Yes, exactly,” Harry said. “But it’s physical. You’ll be able to touch it. And it will…” He laughed. “Well, I guess the sense you use to feel it depends on how your magic is.”

“Yeah, it’s different for all of us,” Sirius said. “Gemma and I have more… magic like dad and da, so it feels like, I don’t know, if you could reach out and touch a spell.” He laughed. “Like - _aguamenti_ feels cold and wet.”

“I just feel it like magic,” Aly said, with a shrug. “Don’t ask me how to explain it.”

“We hope the reason we’ve chosen the spells is… self-evident,” Pansy said, laughing. “But we explain a bit too. And… the rest, Draco?”

“So we pick the spells together, then draw names for what we’re actually making,” Draco said. “And sometimes we help each other, but sometimes we don’t know the final form, so if two of you end up with an identical necklace or something, it’s entirely due to having lived together for too long and sharing the same brain. But it’s sort of an academic exercise for us, I think. We like to get creative and push ourselves, because, you know, the bit where we turn magic into solid objects wasn’t really enough of a challenge, obviously, because we are obnoxiously competitive.”

“Pretty much,” Harry said. “And once you get your new gift, last year’s gift goes out. It’ll still… exist as an object, like Aly’s got a bracelet from a few years back, but there’s no more magic in it. Because it’s a new year and you’ve grown. Oh, and nobody gets the same parent two years in a row. And we rotated on who did two before, but this year _everyone_ got two people.”

“I think this is why my mother says having extremely powerful and academic wizards and the Headmistress of Hogwarts for parents must be strange,” Remy said, laughing. “I’m not sure anyone else would think to… do that sort of thing.”

“Probably not,” Pansy agreed, with a smile. “But we do. And now you’re in on it. Did we pick an order?”

“At some point,” Harry said, laughing. “I think wine was involved. It’s Draco, then you, then me. Also, rules say you stay quiet while other people are getting their present, because we’d like to tell them.”

“Sadly, also applies to daemons,” Tierney said, with a sigh. “So everyone has to shut up.”

“Tragic, not talking for five whole minutes,” Lethe teased.

“So I’ve got Aly and Sirius,” Draco said, laughing. “To which I would like to say, it really is a random drawing that is not meant to isolate all the blonds in the room.”

“Pretty sure he cheated,” Sirius said, laughing. “But I guess then you’d have Remy and Kitten too.”

“Different kind of blonde,” Pascha said.

“Oldest to youngest,” Draco said, taking out two boxes. “And Harry kindly agreed to find boxes for everything this year, so if they’re awful, you may blame him.”

“Thanks, I love you too,” Harry said, laughing, and leaned back against Lethe.

“Aly, we went… a little off the beaten path,” Draco said. “Your mum has an inscription above one of the windows in her office, you remember what it is?”

“Dad, there are so many things in mum’s office that I haven’t the faintest,” Aly said, laughing. “Sorry, mum. Wasn’t aware I’d be quizzed.”

“No, it’s all right,” Pansy said, laughing. “It says, ‘ _Docendo discimus_.’”

“It means, ‘By teaching, we learn,’” Draco said. “So we’ve each taken a few of our very favorite memories of teaching and put them in your mother’s pensieve, and then I pulled them back out as droplets.” He paused. “And I’m not going over what it took to turn memories into liquid and liquid into pearls, let’s just say that it was interesting.” He laughed, handing Aly a box and opening it so she could lift out a necklace – it was a gold chain ending in a gold bar with three pearls on it.

“Hey, a bit like mum’s,” she said, with a smile. “Only bigger pearls.”

“I actually can’t tell you why they’re a bit different in color,” Draco said. “I’m sure it’s something to do with us, but hell if I know.” He laughed. “But we’re proud of what you’ve done and what you’re doing, and –“ He smiled. “We know it takes a few years. Trust us. But we hope that someday you’ll know why we’ve spent our lives here and why your mother refuses to stop teaching even though it’s against every rule in the known universe.”

“Hey, there aren’t any rules against it,” Pansy said, laughing. “It’s just that no one’s done it before either.”

“You’d think managing the school would be enough, wouldn’t you?” Harry teased, with a smile. 

“It feels… happy,” Aly said, nudging Gemma. “And – I dunno, excited and satisfied all at once. Put it on for me?”

Gemma laughed, fastening it. “I think it’s perfect.”

“It does feel nice,” Sorcha agreed, winding around Aly’s neck.

“Well, it’s got a second piece, which is that we’ve taught you a lot of things over the years, and you’ve taught us things back, and we’ve all had some interesting lessons in there,” Harry said, with a smile. “And you were our first, so everyone else may thank you for falling on that sword. So there are some memories of teaching you in there for each of us too. Although teaching you to ride a broomstick is definitely from me, not your mother, who was convinced you were going to die and refused to come along.”

“I really did,” Pansy said, laughing.

“Parenting is teaching and learning as much as anything else,” Harry said. “And we love you, and we’re very proud of you.”

“And these days, we learn more than we teach,” Pansy said, with a smile. “But we’ll still always be here.”

“I know,” Aly said, wiping her eyes as she laughed softly. “It feels just right. Damn, that’s _twice_ tonight. I love you too.”

“Okay, Sirius, no crying,” Draco said, laughing. “Or, well, only if you’d like. You’ve got the four-point spell. Because being sixteen is about figuring out where you’re going as much as where you’ve been, and because there’s a variant – which is the one I used – where the spell always points home instead of true north.”

“Huh,” Sirius said. “So what do I get? A compass?”

Draco laughed. “That would be uncreative and boring,” he said. “You get a reverse snitch. Here.” He opened the second box, letting a snitch out that flew and hovered in front of Sirius’ face.

“A reverse snitch,” Sirius said, reaching up to catch it and holding it carefully as it fluttered in his palm. “How’s that work?”

“Normal snitches run away,” Draco said, with a smile. “This snitch runs toward. Give it some directions.”

“Er,” Sirius said. “Snitch, go to the fireplace?” He let go, but it stayed hovering around him. “What, do I send it further?”

Draco snorted. “Sirius, try a _person_. Or a daemon.”

“Oh,” Sirius said. “Snitch, go to mum?”

The snitch instantly zoomed across the room to hover in front of Pansy, leaving a very faint glowing trail between the two of them.”

“There you go,” Draco said, laughing. “It knows how to find anyone in the family, daemons included. And a few other people, I added Remy. I can add anyone you’d like. But the point is, if you ever need any of us, this will find us, and it lights a path if you send it. Nobody can see it if they’re not on the list.” He laughed. “I, er, neglected to add Dominique, sorry, so she probably can’t see it and neither can Ximenes. But I’ll put her on since she’s going to be living here too.”

“I can see the snitch, just not whatever else you’re talking about,” she said, sounding curious.

“It’s sort of like a faerie path,” Sirius said, thoughtfully.

“It shows the bond between all of us, no matter where you are, and it means that we’ll always come when you need us,” Draco said. “We can only send it back to you and Tierney, though, not to anyone else.”

“Back to Sirius,” Pansy said, and the snitch zoomed back to hover near Sirius’ shoulder, leaving a path again.

“Hey, thanks,” he said, softly. “That’s brilliant. I love it.”

“We love you no matter what,” Harry said, with a smile. “And we will be your parents no matter what, and we will always be here for you.”

“You can give it more vague commands too,” Draco said. “Like tell it to find who’d be most helpful, or who’s currently available if it’s urgent, and then add a restriction clause if you’d like to limit it to just some of us. “Find” starts the spell and “go” will make it leave. So try that.”

“Snitch, find the person who has the most cocoa left out of mum, Aly, da, and Dominique, go,” Sirius said, and it zoomed to Pansy again.

“I’m clearly talking too much,” she said, dryly. “Go back to Tierney.”

“Only bad part of being me,” Tierney said, with a sigh. “Nothing to grab snitches with.”

“Oh, shut up,” Sorcha said, dryly. “Try being a snake.”

“Glad to see your defense professor has taught you well,” Draco teased. “Though probably not nearly enough about how to drink cocoa quickly.”

“That’s _really_ brilliant,” Sirius said, catching it from in front of Tierney. “How does it know what I need even if I don’t, though?”

“ _That_ is a secret,” Draco said, smiling again. “Also, you lot, if a snitch shows up, you probably want to follow it back to Sirius.”

“Wow,” Remy said, softly, reaching up to catch it herself. “I, um – are you sure I should be here? Those are like… the nicest gifts I’ve ever seen. No offense to my parents.”

Pansy laughed. “You may have noticed that these four are very spoiled,” she agreed. “And yes, we’re sure. Sirius and Leona are sure too.”

“We are,” Sirius agreed, wrapping an arm around her.

“Definitely,” Leona agreed. “And you get a present too!”

“I’m actually the newest,” Dominique said, softly. “Thank you for asking me to stay up.”

“Of course,” Pansy said, with a smile. “And since I’m next and I’ve got you and Kitten, your present is actually next. Here.”

“Oh,” Dominique said, reaching to take the box that Pansy handed over. “It feels – is this a scarf? It doesn’t feel like fabric.”

“Well, it’s not,” Pansy said. “It’s mostly spider silk. And it’s actually rather special spider silk, because I’ve kept a colony of spell weavers for… oh, a very long time.” She smiled. “The first civil conversation Harry and I ever had with one another was about them. And he was kind enough to get me some for a student’s thesis his first week here. But they’re not particularly large and what they produce tends to be sticky, so you need a binding agent. So it’s a scarf, but it’s selkie skin and the spider silk.”

“ _Selkie_ skin?” Dominique said. “That’s so rare I’ve only ever seen it mentioned in potion books.”

“We cheated a little, I helped her this year,” Harry said, laughing. “It is rare, but most people don’t know that selkies…” He considered. “They outgrow it because their magic becomes too powerful. So the interesting thing, really, is that everyone thinks of it as one thing, but there’s a lot _more_ to selkie skins from older selkies, it’s got more magic in it. And they shed less often.”

“So baby selkie skin,” Dominique guessed. “It’s beautiful. I guess I had always… imagined they’d look like sealskin, but it’s… almost like chocolate gossamer.”

Pansy snorted. “Baby selkie skin would be utterly half rate,” she said. “But Harry’s friends with a whole colony of them, so this one was from a man your age, Harry said he’s friendly and has red hair like you. I assure you, it’s powerful. And the texture is from the spider silk, sort of. And the magic.”

“It’s very nice, but that’s not a spell,” Leona said, dubiously.

“ _Leona_ ,” Gemma said. “Not your turn, and would you give mum a minute?”

“Yeah, shut it, I want to hear,” Tierney agreed. “It smells like – ocean. But like…”

“No, it smells like the magic in the ocean,” Ximenes said, slinking down off the couch and climbing into Dominique’s lap.

“So my spell weavers are… rather used to barrier spells and wards,” Pansy said. “They weren’t the happiest with your spell.” She laughed. “Actually, they sulked for a week, but yours is _alohamora_. And obviously you know that password spells for the portraits are modified for different doors in our home, so we fed them those, plus the framework spells for the tower, all our offices, the greenhouses, and Harry’s magicozoology center here. And, of course, the spell that lets people we want in to slip past the wards through the fireplaces when we give them access.” She smiled. “So it’s a welcome. And the hope that this year is full of open doors.” She laughed. “And _possibly_ something to keep you warm, since Gemma says you’re constantly complaining about it being cold.”

“I am, I’m too used to Egypt by half,” Dominique said, softly. “This is incredible.”

“See, told you it’d be okay,” Gemma murmured, slipping her hand in Dominique’s. “It goes with your eyes.”

Dominique laughed softly, reaching to pull Xim closer. Kerr climbed over to her shoulder, preening his beak through her hair.

“If everyone here cries at every present, I reserve the right to kill the entire bottle of firewhiskey myself,” Draco teased. “You know, I thought it would be worst when you were teenagers, and then you grew up and now you’re all worse.”

“ _Dad_ ,” Gemma said, laughing. “Don’t judge. It’s – complicated.”

“It’s not,” Harry said, with a smile. “I haven’t the faintest clue why _either_ of you was worried about telling us, but we’re in full support of Genevieve being happy. And you make her happy. And, actually, we’re rather fond of you ourselves, as you might have gathered from the fact that your parents are Aly’s godparents.”

“I really did think that was just to hack off Grandmother and Grandfather Malfoy,” Aly admitted, laughing. “A Weasley. The horror.”

“Pansy and Draco took convincing,” Harry said, laughing. “But I think after all this time they’ve come around on everyone.”

“Mostly,” Draco said, cheerfully.

“Oh, shut it,” Harry said.

“Mum and dad still hate Ginny because da dated her when they were like _seventeen_ , which is a hundred billion years ago,” Leona said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, yes, no one here knows that,” Pansy said, dryly. “And I am nowhere near that old, Leona Penelope.”

Dominique laughed again, pulling the scarf in a loop around her neck. “I don’t actually think I need the firewhiskey any more, Draco can have my share.”

Gemma squeezed her hand again. “So, open doors,” she said, with a smile. “I like that.”

“No, it’s more than that,” Xim said. “It’s open doors and something bottomless. You can smell it. So much magic it never runs out.”

“Well, that’s the ocean,” Pansy said. “But yes, he’s caught on to why I wanted to use selkie skin, it’s how we feel about loving you lot. It’s limitless.”

“Thank you,” Dominique said. “But please move on to Leona so no one’s focused on me when I tear up.”

“It’ll absorb water, not to worry,” Harry teased.

“Mine!” Leona said. “Right in the middle. I mean, sort of, half way between me and Dominique is the middle.”

“I don’t know, I’m beginning to wonder if we ought to have picked a calming draught,” Pansy teased.

“Oh, she’s just excited,” Lethe said, laying her head in Harry’s lap. “It’s solstice.”

“I am excited,” Leona agreed.

“I think we should skip her,” Harry said, thoughtfully. “She’s youngest, she can wait longest, right?”

“Absolutely, I’m willing to let Gemma go next,” Pansy said.

“Let’s not and say we didn’t,” Rhys said, dryly. “She’s already been practically quivering all night.”

“ _Please_ don’t make me wait, that’s against the rules,” Leona protested. “I’m next, fair and square.”

“Oh, I suppose,” Pansy said. “So this year, you get a plant. Well, plants. And your dad and I hid them in your room, but I suspect they’ll have grown up by the time you get up there.”

“A plant?” Leona said, doubtfully. “But Sirius is the one who likes plants.”

“Oh, like they’ve ever given any of us anything that wasn’t really good,” Sirius said.

“We know this year has been a little hard,” Pansy said, gently. “And we know thirteen is never easy, but it’s probably far less easy when people are asking you daft and invasive questions like who your real family is.”

“Yeah,” Leona said, finally. “I hate that. And I think maybe people thought I was… too little to know before, but I do know, we just have a real family. That’s all that matters.” She bit the corner of her lip. “Though I still think Sirius and I might be able to get the hybrid embryo thing to work.”

“Well, you do have hybrid daemons,” Lethe pointed out. “Which is the important part, anyway.”

“It is, actually,” Pansy said, with a smile. “But we wanted you to have something to remind you that no matter what anyone else ever says, you’re all of ours. So we picked a plant.”

“Because of dad,” Leona said, slowly.

“Well, sort of,” Draco said, laughing. “But we picked a special plant.”

“We had them in our bedroom years ago, but they got a little unruly,” Pansy said. “But you know blood vines. And they were our wedding flower, we got married on a new moon so we could have them, my bouquet was made of them and they were in my hair, you’ve seen the pictures of the wedding.”

“Yeah, all the… lights,” Leona said. “I think dad took me to see them when I was little.”

“A few times,” Draco agreed, with a smile. “But your mum’s done something special.”

“I used a lot of stasis potions and some fertility magic, and I’ve tricked the ones in your room,” Pansy explained. “And we’ve planted them in very special fertilizer, so they’ll bloom every night. But they’re seedless, so you don’t have to worry about waking up to a lot of seeds every morning, which happened once a month and was why we got rid of the ones we had.” She laughed. “Right now, they’re probably nearly covering your walls, but your dad can make it a little less like sleeping in a jungle if you want. But we wanted you to look up every night that you’re home and to know where you came from, which is from three parents who love one another very much and who love you without limits.” She held out a second box. “And in a rare, unprecedented turn of events, you also get a gift that’s not magic at all.”

“Huh,” Leona said, taking a necklace out of the box and holding it up to the light to examine something small inside a glass bubble. “Is that a seed?”

“It is,” Pansy agreed. “It’s a regular one from one of the ones in the new moon garden, which is where all of ours have always come from. That’s not magic, it’s just jewelry. And it won’t go away. Because we wanted you to have something that wouldn’t ever go away.” She leaned over for a kiss. “So no spell. But a plant.”

“It’s a pretty brilliant plant,” Leona admitted. “When can I go see?”

“After we’re finished,” Pansy said, laughing. “So you do sort of have to wait a bit. But they’ll be in bloom by then.”

“See,” Sirius said, laughing. “And you were complaining about a plant.”

“Oh, hush,” Lethe said. “You were weird about your plant at first too.”

“Put it on,” Leona said, handing it over to Sirius. “I want to wear mine too. Until I can go see my spell present.”

“So I think, shockingly, we know who I’ve got,” Harry said, laughing. “Gemma and Remy, I’m afraid you’ve gotten the inferior parent when it comes to planning gifts, but I do try.”

“Oh, shut it,” Pansy said, fondly. “Yours are always wonderful.”

“I think we’re doing necklaces this year,” Harry said, laughing, and offered Gemma a box. “So, as Leona used to say when she was little, Gemma-vieve, you _also_ get a necklace.”

“Still no clue why you didn’t just go with Genna or Gen,” she said, laughing.

“Because they were unacceptable nicknames that didn’t suit you,” Pansy said, with a grin. “And did I mention unacceptable? And, er, Aly couldn’t manage ‘n’ sounds all that well.”

“But you really were not a Genna,” Harry agreed. “Far too good natured of a baby.”

“Also, you’re a gem,” Draco teased. 

“Why do we love them again?” Kerr muttered, as Gemma pulled out her necklace, peering at a droplet that swirled and changed as if it contained liquid fog.

“So I have to admit that your dad is the only person who’s given proper presents this year, because your mom went with plants and magical creatures, and I’ve gone with casting and historical magic,” Harry said, laughing. “But your spell is _expecto patronum_. Only… it’s not the usual one. A very long time ago, the spell used to draw from your daemon, and it’s a little murky, but when you cast, it was daemons who protected you, not the way it is now with magical creatures. It’s the version that shows on your mother’s professor tattoo.”

“I thought that was just… metaphorical,” Gemma said.

“It turns out it’s not,” Harry said. “So _this_ version is from all three of us, and it’s Thaxia, Lethe, and Kit. It does work, actually.” He laughed. “God knows Hermione has done enough research. But it’s not really that we think you’ll be facing any literal dementors this year, so your spell sort of represents…” He considered. “Bravery as you try new things and step outside of your comfort zone. We’re so happy to have you home, but we’re also very proud of the amazing witch you’ve become without us.” He smiled. “You’re an amazing Auror, far better than I ever was, and watching you and Dominique work together has been a privilege.”

“So we’re rather happy you seem to have figured out you might work together in other ways too,” Draco said, laughing. “But you’re you, so…” He gestured to Harry.

“We know what it means for you to add someone new to the people you consider family,” Harry said, with a smile. “For you in particular, Gemma. And that takes a certain kind of bravery too. So we hope this will be a light in dark places and a reminder that you were made from daemons who have plenty of courage.”

“Too _much_ courage, if we’re talking about Thaxia,” Lethe said, laughing.

“Not my fault I’m a Gryffindor,” Harry said, mildly, with a smile.

“Why do we all like this so much again if we just cry over it every time?” Gemma muttered, reaching up to hold the necklace as Kerr hopped to attach it with his beak. Dominique paused, then reached out a hand, finding Genevieve’s.

“Because if you ever worry they don’t love you because you’ve done something really stupid, you have your present and you remember what they said and you know,” Sirius said, reasonably.

“Or, as a novel suggestion, you could all just _know_ that we love you,” Harry said, dryly. “And that nothing could ever change that.”

“Nah, too easy,” Aly said, laughing softly as she set her head on Gemma’s shoulder.

“It’s perfect,” Gemma said, finally. “It’s like Sirius said, you can feel it, it feels like family daemon pile.”

“As well it should,” Lethe said, standing up to go lick Gemma’s face until she started to laugh. “We love you, little one. We’re glad you’re home. Now stop crying, you’re too salty.”

“Okay, okay,” Gemma said, laughing, and wrapped her arms around Lethe for a moment to hug her.

“So last but not least,” Harry said, with a smile. “Remy, I think you’re probably getting the most special gift of the night.”

“Oh no,” she said. “I was already nervous.”

“So I have to tell two stories for you to understand,” Harry said, laughing. “The first is about our Sirius, and the second is about Sirius Black.”

“Your dad’s friend,” Remy said. “And my grandfather’s, I suppose. And gran’s… cousin?” She made a face. “I get really confused with all the Black family stuff. There’s too much of it.”

“Right, and I completely agree,” Harry agreed. “So we’re not really the sort of people to name babies at the last minute. And given that Sirius is technically a Malfoy heir, Pansy and Draco wanted to make sure he had a traditional name, and he was…” Harry laughed. “Very stubborn, before he was born, so we’d agreed we were going to call him Leo.” He winked at Leona. “A name you can probably tell we actually quite liked.”

“You were an unholy terror, actually,” Pansy teased. “And I’d gotten all spoiled by Gemma, who was a nice baby and didn’t do terrible things with my magic all the time. _You_ liked to throw.”

“Oh, you loved me,” Sirius said, laughing.

“I did,” Pansy agreed. “You were still an unholy terror.”

“Well, anyway,” Harry said. “Pansy and Draco mucked around with the birth certificate for like two days, because we knew what his name was and there was no rush filing it, and then Draco said he was just going to pop down to the office of vital records at the Ministry before we came back home from the hospital and file it, so he got me to sign a blank birth certificate.” He laughed. “And _then_ I found out that these two were terrible people, because they’d gone and changed his name to Sirius, after my godfather. Which I’d never even suggested because, well –“ 

“Because he was a bit of an upstart Gryffindor who spent a few decades wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban, who wouldn’t want to name a baby after him?” Draco teased.

“He meant a lot to me,” Harry said, simply. “And it was a very kind thing for them to do. Even if we’d all agreed we weren’t naming any babies after dead relatives.” He laughed. “Alive relatives were okay, like you’re named after your gram.”

“Harry, get on with it,” Pansy said, laughing. “While we’re still young.”

“Well, the second part of the story is that when Sirius died, I inherited a lot of his things,” he said. “And as it turned out, when he was disowned, his brother Regulus actually did a rather smart thing and hid all of Sirius’ things in the family vault. So what his parents thought they were destroying was all duplicates.”

“That’s sort of horrible, actually, honestly,” Remy said, making a face. “I’m glad no one disowns anyone anymore.” 

“Well, my parents probably would, but they don’t have any other options,” Draco said, then paused when Pansy elbowed him. “Er, kidding, they’d just want to move on to Aly faster.”

“Very sad,” Pansy agreed. “Our method of having four was really much smarter. That way we can get rid of any of them any time we like.”

“Hey,” Sirius protested, laughing. “You just got done saying you loved us to the bottom of the sea and no matter what and everything, and now we’re being disowned?”

“If you outgrow another pair of robes, definitely,” Pansy teased.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Harry said, laughing. “After I married Pansy, she went through the Black vault for me, and she had the goblins take off a lot of hidden enchantments on things just to make sure nothing was dangerous. But, as it turned out, Regulus had hidden trunks of Sirius’ things inside of another chest, and we found all of it. And it was… pretty difficult to go through, if I’m honest, but Pansy and Draco helped me, and a lot of what we found were his things from school.” Harry laughed again. “And if you’ve ever seen a single photo of Sirius, you’ll know he had a rather signature piece of clothing.”

“Pieces,” Pansy corrected, laughing. “Since what we’ve got is hardly everything, I can’t know, but I’m convinced he had one for every bloody day of the week.”

“Well, anyway, he wore a lot of leather jackets,” Harry said. “And we have two or three, and we had the nicest retailored for you.” He smiled. “So it will fit, and it’s cut in something that Pansy says is a bit more flattering for a woman. And it’ll grow with you, and that part’s not made of any spells, it won’t disappear on you. But for this year, we’ve redone the liner and _that_ bit is woven from a sky mapping spell, because a portion of your family history and your future is made up of constellations and stars, for better or worse, and because the north star’s in there somewhere and it will always guide you home again.” He reached, handing her a box. “I think your granddad would have loved for you to have this, and I think the first Sirius would have loved it too.”

“Wow,” Remy said, softly. “I can’t – are you sure? It’s such a special thing, Sirius should have it.”

“Sirius isn’t Remus Lupin’s granddaughter,” Harry said, with a smile. “And we know you don’t have a lot of things of Remus’ beyond your nickname, so we thought we’d give you something of Sirius’.”

“I didn’t _really_ need four sets of dress measurements for the ball,” Pansy said, with a smile. “Harry wants you to have it. That’s good enough for all of us.”

“Go on, put it on,” Sirius murmured, nudging her with a grin.

“I’ve never had a leather jacket before,” Remy said, reaching to touch it. “It’s so soft.”

“Yes, well, our tailor’s very good at restoration,” Harry said, laughing. “ _Take_ it, Andromeda, before I make Sirius and Leona wrestle you into it.”

“I think you should,” Pascha said. “It wouldn’t be right to turn down that sort of gift.”

“Leather jackets are very warm,” Dominique said, laughing. “And Pascha’s right. You have to take it when you’re offered something like that.”

“You really do,” Harry agreed.

“Okay,” Remy said, barely more than a squeak, and took the jacket carefully, pulling it on. “I – wow. It really is warm. And it smells good.”

“It does,” Sirius agreed, leaning in to wrap his arm back around her. “Like leather and… I dunno. Something else.”

“Like when it’s really cold and clear and you can see all the stars out,” Tierney said.

“We’ll take you out with a telescope some night,” Pansy said, with a smile.

“Thank you,” Remy said, softly. “I – really. I’ll write dad in the morning and tell him. It’ll mean a lot to him.”

“I think it will too,” Harry said. “And it’s yours to keep for the rest of your life. And Pansy says that when that liner fades next year, it’ll turn into regular silk, but we can replace it with something else if you’d like.”

“You look very rebellious,” Sirius informed her, laughing, and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “And fit.”

“Oh, good, we’ve enabled you,” Pansy teased.

“Shut it, Sirius,” Remy muttered, blushing, and laughed. “But thank you. Really.”

“And done, thank god,” Harry said, laughing. “Christmas is a bit less intimate.”

“We love you,” Aly said, firmly, leaning to hug Pansy.

“We love you back,” Pansy said, with a smile. “But it’s late and everyone’s exhausted.”

“And the four of us are going to have to get a great many wayward children onto a train, so we’d better get to bed,” Draco agreed. “Leona, I’ll come up and fix your bed so you lot can stay there if you want and enjoy the flowers. Remy, are you taking the train?”

“No, meeting mum and dad at Ron and Hermione’s tomorrow,” she said. “Sirius and I wanted to –“ She paused. “Um.”

“Have an afternoon to exchange our gifts,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. “Leona, don’t get too gleeful.”

“Nah, I have to say goodbye to _everyone_ ,” she said. “You two can go be weird and snog in the greenhouses if you want.”

“We’re not –“ Remy started, flushing.

“Yes, yes, you’re defective teenagers, we know,” Aly said, fondly.

“I’m never going to France again, I miss too much,” Gemma said, laughing. “Night, littles.”

“Yes, I’m incredibly small,” Sirius said, dryly, leaning in for a hug. He already towered over her. “Love you, Gem. Night, Dominique.”

“I’m right behind,” Aly said, glancing at Gemma. “How do you want things?”

“Just make your bed bigger, Gemma wants to sleep with you and I just want to _sleep_ ,” Dominique said, laughing. “No one wake me in the morning no matter what my father says, I’m not helping.” She glanced at Aly. “And it – us being in physical proximity is likely to make me less of a bitch. Sorry about that.”

Aly laughed. “It’s okay,” she said. “But if you maybe want to direct the warm, glowy, family veela feelings towards me instead of the territorial ones, that’d be nice.”

“Xim and Sorcha can sleep touching,” she said. “That will help too.”

“Yes, _with me_ ,” Kerr said, from Genevieve’s shoulder. “Xim’s plenty big.”

“Er, maybe take a few minutes?” Gemma said. “Do you two mind if I catch up with my parents for a little bit?”

“Of course not,” Dominique said, leaning to kiss her cheek. “Aly, we can start turning the room into a sauna so I don’t complain all night.”

“Or Sorcha,” Aly said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, I’ll show you all the new things and find you a towel if you want a shower.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Gemma said, glancing at Draco.

“Nah,” he said. “I’ll throw a few more logs on the fire.”

“I don’t want to keep you up,” Gemma said.

“Please, they were going to do that anyway,” Pansy said, rolling her eyes.

“And gross,” Sirius muttered, making a face.

“Very gross,” Leona agreed.

“I’ll take down all the silencing charms just for you two,” Pansy teased. 

“That’s horrible and mean,” Leona said, and Draco hit the back of her head gently, laughing.

“You have never once heard anything you weren’t spying on,” he said, firmly. “Come on. Bed, kitten.”

“He’s right, don’t start,” Harry said, laughing, once nearly everyone had gone upstairs. “I’m exhausted.”

“Sorry for interrupting,” Gemma said, laughing.

“Go ahead, we’ll catch up in a minute,” Draco called, looking concerned. “Genevieve?”

“I know I talked to mum and da,” she said. “But I think I need – more parent time. I might be a little in over my head. And, um, I think it’s a three parent thing, but not like – nobody’s dying or anything.”

“You know, let me just tuck them in, they can enjoy the overgrowth for one night,” Pansy said, kissing her forehead. “Draco, make her some tea. Go let Thaxia do Kerr’s feathers.”

“That sounds nice,” Kerr said. “Will you, please?”

Thaxia looked a little offended. “Haven’t I _always_?”

“Yes,” Kerr said, swooping over in front of the fireplace and settling with his wings spread. “But it’s polite to ask.”

“Hmmm, definitely a three parent problem,” Lethe said, coming to flop next to him while Thaxia started to carefully groom his feathers. She moved until Kerr could rest his head on her muzzle. “You’re polite, but we’re your _parents_. If you ask again she’ll bite you.”

“Hey, love,” Harry said, tugging Genevieve in for a long hug. “Don’t worry, all right? We always figure out how to make things work. You know that.”

“Yeah, I do,” Gemma said, relaxing a bit against him. “Dad, I’ve kind of –“

“Got a raging headache?” Draco said. “Yes, I know, I’ve been waiting for you to say something. The caffeine will help and I’ll give you a sleeping potion if you need one. Vanilla in black tea okay?”

“Yeah, perfect,” she said.

“Just give me a few, all right?” Pansy said, leaning to kiss her forehead. “I love you.”

Genevieve sat on the sectional, and Harry reached to rub at the base of her skull. “Yeah, can’t see where that headache’s coming from at _all_ ,” he said. “You now have a bloody enormous bathtub, use it tomorrow with the muscle relaxing stuff, all right?”

“Yeah,” Gemma said, leaning against his shoulder. She sounded a little choked up. “I’m really – I’m really glad to be home.”

“Oh no,” Harry said, laughing softly, and pulled her into a hug. “No crying. Your mother has to be present for that, we’re men, we have no idea what to do.”

“Sorry,” Gemma said, wiping a hand beneath her eyes.

“Genevieve,” Harry said, gently. “I was joking. We’re glad to have you home too.” He summoned a box of tissues. “I think it’s probably better to let it out than keep it in. Spoken as the person who contributed the genes that made you awful at that, sorry.”

Gemma laughed, finally, softly. “Yeah, mum cries over baby lizards and student essays and things,” she said. “I’d probably be better off with hers.”

“I think we may want to trademark repressing feelings as something invented by the Potters,” he teased, stroking her back. 

“Shove over,” Draco said, handing her the cup of tea. “We love you. And you’re not allowed to apologize for needing us. When we decided to have kids, we talked about that.” He smiled. “I’ve said this before, sweetheart, but we’re yours for life. You never have to worry about outgrowing that.”

“I know, sort of,” Gemma said, going for the tissues. “It’s so stupid, I’m – I just missed home so badly. And I wanted to like being away and seeing new things and all that, but I was just homesick. But it’s like – everyone else didn’t have any trouble, Dominique owled her parents like twice a week, I feel like I ought to grow up and stop needing so much and wanting to be around you guys and Aly all the time. I feel guilty. I know you probably have things you want to do that you couldn’t when we were younger. I know you and mum said it was fine earlier, but… I worry.”

“Gemma,” Harry said, gently. “I think I can safely say that _nothing_ in life makes any of us happier than being parents. We love our jobs and we love each other and we love plenty of other things, but we love you lot most of all. And not just because you’re our kids, but because you’ve actually all grown up into people that we enjoy being around. Well. Sirius is trying, at least.”

Genevieve laughed softly, and Pansy came down off the stairs, crouching in front of her to cup her face. “Darling,” she said. “I have taught many, many, _many_ students over the years, so I think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to teenagers and young adults, and the common denominator is that everyone’s different and everyone needs different things.” She leaned to kiss her forehead. “There isn’t just one normal. Bill and Fleur’s family is a little different than ours, that’s all. You know that if Leona wanted to, I don’t know, go spend a year learning charms in South America, we’d miss her like crazy, but we’d support her. But by the same token, if you and Aly want to live one flight up and have us around, we’ll support that too. You make our lives better, not harder, love.”

Draco laughed softly. “Hey, the way I see it, we have done an _excellent_ job of raising you lot, since you seem to have come out loving us as much as we love you, and you still want to be around us even though you’re Aurors and professors and teenagers. That makes us happy.”

“Are you sure?” Gemma said.

“Gem,” Harry said, kissing her forehead. “You belong wherever you want to be, with the people you want to be with. Now drink your tea.”

“You two are terrible at this,” Pansy said. “You’d think after multiple bloody decades, they’d be better.” She found a blanket on a chair, wrapping it around Gemma. “She’s cold and her magic’s gone too tight.” She brushed Gemma’s hair out of her face again. “Now tell us what’s wrong, because that wasn’t it.”

“No,” Gemma said, with a sigh. “I might need da for this level of veela magic stupidity. And whomever knows Bill best, Dominique’s sort of…” She laughed. “It’s like mum and Aly except Bill and her. And, um.” She flushed. “I might, in vague and euphemistic terms, have to discuss… private things.”

“Oh god,” Harry said, laughing. “Not sex. I’m leaving. I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Gross,” Pansy agreed, with a grin. “Never in a million years. Find different parents. We raised you better than to ever bring up any questions about that.”

Draco snorted. “Gem, could you maybe make the assumption that, as your parents, we are aware by now that you like to keep private things private and that we’ll respect that?”

“I dunno, I think we should get Professor Lisse in here to do some tea leaf divination,” Harry teased. “She ought to solve your problems.”

“You’re the _worst_ ,” Genevieve said, but she was laughing. “Dad, did you make a kettle of tea or just –“

Draco rolled his eyes. “Honestly, like I didn’t raise you,” he said, waving a hand to refill her cup. “Now move so your da can keep you warm and your mum can cuddle you. I’ll make the couch bigger. Kit? Did you want to get her other side or are you with Kerr?”

“With Kerr,” he said. “Unless Genevieve wants me over there.”

“I think maybe –“ she paused. “Lethe? Will you come be on the couch with me?”

“Oh, good, she’s broken,” Pansy said. “What _did_ you do in France?”

“Always,” Lethe said, letting Genevieve move before she hopped in to settle between her and the back of the sofa, licking her cheek. “Don’t listen to your mother. You know you’re mine.”

“I do,” Genevieve agreed, leaning forward to wrap her arms around her for a minute. “Kerr? You’re okay?”

“Good,” he said, sounding drowsy. “Getting cleaned.”

“Good,” she said. “Love you.”

She leaned to bury her face in the fur on the top of Lethe’s head, inhaling. “Love you, too.”

“Love you back, little one,” Lethe said, licking her nose again. “Now start talking before your mother spells it out of you.”

“Let me just –“ Draco said, waving a hand to expand the sofa more, and Pansy stretched out on Gemma’s other side.

“Squidlet two sandwich,” she said, with a smile. “Harry, get with it.”

“Bossy,” Harry said, but he stuffed a pillow behind Gemma, murmuring a warming charm at her. “How’s your head?”

“Better,” she said. “Unfortunately that means I can think more about how my life is a bloody disaster.”

“The beginning’s usually a decent place to start,” Pansy said.

“Yeah,” Gemma said. “We went to France and I knew – I mean, I knew there was something.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “How did you guys know you liked men? I mean. Not mum. Duh.”

“I just sort of did?” Harry hazarded. “I found enough of them attractive that I kind of figured it was a two way street?”

“Your da pissed me off so much he made me question my sexuality,” Draco said, amused. “Why?”

“I mean – I’ve dated men,” Gen said. “But it was always just so _boring_. And I really… just wasn’t into anything in bed, it was always sort of like, god, get it over with so I can do something less boring. And Aly’s never, you know, been all crazy over dating, so I thought maybe it was just… you know, like da, when we found the right person, we’d know and feel more then. Or maybe I just didn’t like sex that much, I mean, some people don’t, you’ve all said that a million times too.”

Pansy cuddled in. “So I think you’re trying to say you’re a lesbian and not bisexual or asexual,” she said. “Which you know doesn’t matter a bit to us.”

“Well, I mean, I’d thought about it,” Gemma said. “And I’d _thought_ about talking to Dominique about it, because she’s known she was gay for a really long time, but I was embarrassed about not being sure and not having figured anything out when I was younger and so I just kind of… didn’t. And I knew I felt kind of different than I had before about her, but I wasn’t sure if it was that we’ve gotten really close as partners and we spend a lot of time together and she… veelas at me sort of a lot, I don’t think she ever noticed she was doing it.”

Harry laughed. “Or, to literally every other person that knew you two, she had a ridiculous crush on you and flirted constantly.”

“Oh, well, yes, _now_ I know that,” Genevieve said, irritably. “I didn’t when we kept getting stuck in tiny French cottages and safehouses and I just –“ She put her head in her hands. “I was flirting. I was flirting a _lot_. But in total fairness, Dominique hits on anything that moves regardless of sex or sexual orientation, it’s never serious, and I just –“ She made a face. “I was stupid and confused. But it felt nice. The connection. Like really good, something I hadn’t felt before. The way she’d react. And every time she touched me to flirt back I actually _felt_ it. Like I wanted more. And I had no clue what more was, I just knew I wanted it. And then that kind of went to the place where, um, you have literally nothing to do in France and you’re completely confused about your sexuality and –“ She paused. “I mean, there’s a lot of wine in France. Ludicrous amounts of wine.”

Draco snorted. “There is, in fact, a lot of wine in France. Did you get drunk and sleep together?”

“Not exactly – er, not then, anyway,” Gemma said, with a sigh. 

“We kept kind of splitting a bottle with dinner and then, um, because I am a clueless idiot, somehow getting tipsy and reading turned into snogging. I don’t even know who started it. But you can kind of play a lot off if you both just pretend you’re messing around because you’re stuck in France and you’ve literally never had good sex and she can tease you mercilessly about it and tell you about how obviously boys are not being good enough for you and you should switch teams and –“ 

She sighed again. “I hate veela. Seriously. I mean, I swear to god it started out as just snogging, but after a while, she started doing this _thing_ , like, I mean, I’d never kissed girls before, I’d never even been turned on by someone I was with before, but she just had this way of dialing my entire body up to eleven just from _snogging_.” She paused. “And I could have stopped that part, but I let it in. I was kind of going out of my mind. Like, oh, consummate professionals all day, come home and eat dinner and then kiss for hours and then go to bed feeling like the least satisfied person in the known universe. Kerr was a bloody nightmare.”

“You were being stupid,” Kerr said. “So I went and killed ducks. It felt better than being around you being stupid.”

“Yes, well, there were a lot of very grateful villagers who got ducks,” Genevieve said, sighing. “Of course, they always repaid us in _wine_ , so it’s not like that improved the situation any.”

“If I laugh because this feels like the sort of trouble Sirius would get himself into, will you kill me?” Harry said.

“No,” Gemma said, laughing softly. “That actually makes me feel better. I mean, no offense, dad, but he’s – we’re a lot alike sometimes. I mean, it sounds so _stupid_ in retrospect, but I was really confused and couldn’t figure anything out and literally everyone I was used to figuring out things out with was on the other side of the continent or, er, the other half of the snogging equation. I liked it. I didn’t want it to stop. And I was worried that if I told her I might – actually have feelings for her, she wouldn’t want to be with me and I’d want to throw myself off a cliff for the rest of the assignment. Or not even _have_ an assignment.”

“Judging from Sirius, you did not have an adult conversation about this situation,” Harry said, laughing softly.

“Got it in one,” Gemma said. “We had this – I don’t know, this stupid haunted barn thing, and it took two days, and we were both exhausted and just really – some of the stuff we were doing, it kind of takes a lot out of you, and I sprained my wrist.”

“And you didn’t use the first aid kit I sent with you?” Draco said, not sounding thrilled.

“No, because I didn’t know how bad it was, and her magic was all over the place, and I needed to know if it was broken or sprained to know _what_ to take, so I just put it in a sling until we got back to the farm house, I figured we’d sort it there. But it hurt. A lot.”

“Sensible,” Pansy said, shooting Draco a look.

“No, terrible idea,” Gemma said, laughing. “I have _never_ seen Dom in a worse mood, ever, I didn’t know they… got all…” She gestured. “If their partner was hurt.”

“Yeah, Victorie once knocked down an entire wall in the hospital wing,” Draco said, sounding amused at the memory. “Teddy fell playing Quidditch and the mediwizard wouldn’t let her see him. And she’s got less veela blood than Dominique does.”

“I might need a book on them,” Gem muttered. “Anyway, it was just sprained, so I took _that_ potion, but Dominique was really spun up and Xim was a hot mess and then I just –“ She sighed. “You lot have been drilling sex rules into me since I was like _twelve_ , I mean, probably earlier since da said I never had to hug anyone I didn’t want to because I was in charge of my own body, and I really, really should have known better, but I kind of broke like five of them. Possibly simultaneously. It was like I was making up for my lack of adolescent rebellion.” She laughed. “In a thirty second period or something.”

“Honey,” Pansy said, laughing softly. “We put those out there so you have them as a tool. Not because we’ve always managed to follow them. Or because we haven’t made our fair share of very stupid mistakes. I don’t think any of us ever expected _any_ of you lot to get through adolescence or beyond without doing some royally stupid things with regards to sex, god knows we were all idiots about it. It’s sort of… the nature of figuring out how to date and sleep with other people and communicate about things that can be really bloody awkward. There’s a learning curve.”

“What she said,” Harry said, with a grin. “Although I’m totally curious which five you broke.” 

“God, I don’t even _know_ ,” Gemma said, laughing. “Dad, can I –“ 

“Uh huh,” Draco said, refilling her mug again. “Feeling warmer?”

“Yeah,” she said, kissing Lethe’s head again. “Thanks.”

“I’m just listening,” Lethe said, nuzzling her shoulder. “But I’m here too.”

“I seriously think I needed my own set of rules,” Gemma mused. “Like, we needed to invent one where if you’re only just figuring out you might be interested in sex with women, you should not both get really, really drunk before you have sex with a woman for the first time. Or, when you’re too oblivious to figure out that you’re gay, don’t start playing games with your _definitely_ gay auror partner while she thinks you’re straight. Or, you know, have enough brain cells to figure out that she’s incredibly interested in you.” She finally laughed. “And there’s like a bloody veela subset, you’d better give those to Sirius just in case, like if you tease them for too long they kind of lose all control and their minds if you give them an opening.” She paused. “Also, they get way _worse_ if they’ve been holding back for ages, so seriously, do not have sex with them for the first time when you’re both drunk and you’re kind of clueless because it will be _way_ more intense than what you can handle on either an emotional or physical level and your brain will kind of exit the premises.” She took a long drink of tea, flushing.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and hope that Sirius and Remy are not having a sexuality crisis and have figured out that they like one another,” Harry said, laughing softly. “But that’s kind of an impressive amount of veela trouble. Even considering it’s Dominique, who I think probably wrote said book on issues with veela.”

“And then there’s all the regular stuff, you know, maybe don’t confess to having feelings for someone while you’re both drunk, and especially don’t skip the “maybe I’m gay” step in there,” Gemma said, still laughing. “It – the worst part is I mean –“ She closed her eyes. “I feel awful that I messed with Dom’s feelings without meaning to, and I feel awful that she’s so worried about coercion that’s she’s stressed and driving me insane and that’s perfectly reasonable given how things played out, but I’m legitimately not actually that sorry about the rest of it because, well, if you’re going to screw up in a way that leads to first time sex with a woman…” She gestured. “I mean. Might as well make it with a veela who knows you really well and is really good in bed.”

Pansy snorted. “Dominique occasionally glazes me over and I’m very taken, very straight, and she’s my former student,” she said. “I can only imagine.”

“Oh, no, you can’t,” Gemma said, laughing. “Please don’t try. Or if you try, pretend it’s some random person and Gabrielle. I mean the worst part was it wasn’t even like – it would have been one thing if she’d gotten really pushy, but I told her – um, that the making out wasn’t just kissing and that I had feelings for her and she just… she was really _nice_. But nice in a way that probably had years of pent up emotion behind it because it kind of hit me like a brick wall, because that was a _lot_ of veela magic. She said a lot of very…” Genevieve gestured. “Things that I’m not repeating because they were about how she felt about me, but even _that_ was intense, and then she –“ Gemma laughed, shaking her head. “ _She_ followed da’s playbook, she asked if I wanted to kiss or if I wanted to go to bed or if I felt too drunk to decide and just wanted to get some rest. I, er, was the one who hauled her into the bedroom.” She laughed softly. “I don’t think she was the only one who’d been wanting something for a long time.”

“Okay,” Draco said. “So what’s going on now? Because it seems like you’re dating. Or at least you’ve both said so.”

“Ugh,” said Kerr. “Veela are _impossible_.”

“Er, yeah,” Genevieve said. “She was really, really, um, phenomenally angry and freaked out the next morning. She was mad that I hadn’t told her while we were messing around, and that I hadn’t trusted her with at least telling her I thought I might like women, but mostly she thought she’d… made me. Like – from longer back than even I’d thought, that she thought I might only _think_ I had feelings for women because she’d liked me, and I might only _think_ I had feelings for her because she’d been interested, and that she shouldn’t have taken advantage of me, and…” She shook her head. “She yelled. I yelled. There was a lot of yelling. Kerr and Xim kind of, er, went for one another, I’ve never had that happen before. She wouldn’t listen to me that I’d been around her for years and that I’d thought about it and was physically attracted to women other than her too and that I’d _wanted_ to have sex or even that I can tell when she’s using veela magic on me. I mean – I can. I always know. I don’t even have to let it affect me if I don’t want it to.”

“Well, yeah,” Harry said. “But Dominique is a caster. It’s really bloody hard to understand the other side of things if you’ve never experienced it.”

“It’s literally taken me years and years to get other human magic, let alone other species magic,” Pansy said, stroking a hand through Genevieve’s hair. “And I still absolutely don’t have that… innate sense for magic that your da and dad do. I can’t feel it like that. I think most people who don’t have such powerful sensory magic _wouldn’t_ have the faintest idea that she was doing it. And certainly wouldn’t be able to choose whether to let it in or shield it out.”

“That’s it,” Gemma said, with a sigh. “I – that’s the bit I can’t make her get, that I _like_ the way it feels. And not because, you know, it’s sex magic or something, but because it feels like her and I love her and it’s like getting _all_ of her. And I have to take magical blocks down to do it, even if I’m drunk. I took them down because I liked it. I tried to tell her and I’m… reasonably certain she’s thinks I’m delusional.”

“You might have to show her, love,” Harry said. “You can teach her the spell that lets her see your magic. Or just… show her.”

“Yeah,” Gemma said, looking at her cup. “I know – I mean, I took advantage and I didn’t communicate properly. And she ran off to another cottage for like three days and Xim finally physically dragged her back and – I’ve tried going slow. And that’s how we’re dating, I mean, I think she might finally believe that I’m just interested in her because she hasn’t used a bit of veela magic in a month.” She paused. “But that’s going _horribly_ , as you saw at dinner, it’d be like dad pretending not to like plants. It’s who she is. But she’s so afraid she might make me do something I don’t really want to do…” She made a face. “And, um, I’m not saying that I need veela stuff to enjoy sex, I don’t, but I kind of need my girlfriend to stop treating me like she might accidentally make me like her if she – gets too close, it’s like she’s got all these walls up too, like she’s trying to have really distant sex so when it turns out I _don’t_ actually have feelings for her, she won’t get as hurt.”

Gemma sighed. “I just want Dominique back. Like – usual Dominique. She’s always been _stupidly_ funny and laid back and flirty and – you know her.” Gemma laughed softly. “Opposites attract, or something. But right now she’s nearly acting like a church mouse. And I think Xim’s, um.”

“Xim is not doing well and won’t let me fix it,” Kerr muttered. “Because he’s stubborn. And stupid. And Dominique is fighting us pairing properly tooth and nail because she thinks _she_ is in charge of whether or not that happens.” He snorted. “Which is ludicrous. Daemons don’t have any stupid veela stuff.”

“Well, that’s quite a lovely mess,” Draco said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “You feel a little better, though?”

“Yeah,” Gemma said, letting out a breath. “I needed to talk.”

“Judging by the fact that I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you say so much all at once, I’m guessing yes,” Harry said, wrapping his arms around her for a hug. “It’s going to be okay, love. I know it feels like complete and utter disaster zone territory, but from an outside perspective, it doesn’t sound to me like there’s anything here that can’t be fixed. I mean – you did make some mistakes, but it sounds like Dominique’s having a hard time talking and listening right now too.”

“Yeah,” Gemma said. “Aside from the fact that I don’t _want_ her to stop being a veela, she can’t. It’s just… who she is. Xim’s starting to look sick.”

“I think there are some things that might make this easier,” Draco said. “For one thing, you two both need rest and real beds and time with people you care about. And Dominique probably needs a chance to talk to someone else who gets it, like Victorie or Fleur. And… well, Harry’s known him longer than I have, but in my experience, if Bill thinks _anyone_ is doing anything because they feel sorry for him or at their own expense, he’s stubborn and impossible.”

“Definitely got it in one there,” Harry said. “He tried to run off Fleur plenty of times during the war when he thought he wasn’t good enough for her.”

“I think maybe just getting all that out was a start,” Pansy said. “I think you ought to go upstairs, go to bed with your sister and Dominique, and while you’re here, we’ll let our daemons work on Ximenes, all right? I think Dominique’s less likely to worry that they’re together if everyone’s in a pile. Which is, let’s be honest, how it always is here.” She stroked Genevieve’s hair. “Just… be a little more open than usual with her, love, you can be hard to read even for people who have been very close to you your whole life.”

“And I think –“ Harry considered. “I mean, you know you have to have a conversation, you’re here because you don’t know what kind of conversation it needs to be. But I do think Dominique deserves to sincerely know that you can block veela magic. Use the spell so she can see it. And honestly, leave your blocks up and let her give it her best shot.” He laughed. “Though please ward the room, that’s going to be intense given how much she’s been keeping it in and I’d rather not have everyone male in a two mile radius showing up.”

“Yeah,” Gemma said, laughing softly. “Me either.”

“Just talk to her,” Harry said. “It may not feel like it right now, but you two do know how to talk to one another. Just maybe not as people who are dating quite yet. And I think… I could imagine her feeling unsure if she’s thinking everything is on her end. So, I mean…” He laughed. “Taken with a grain of salt as someone who is _utterly_ terrible at romantic gestures, initiate and show her you care.”

“He is not,” Pansy said. “You have excellent romantic gesture genes.”

“I have good gift giving genes and your mother thinks those are the same thing,” Harry said, dryly.

“Shut up and quit fishing,” Draco said, laughing. “You’re good at it.”

“Actually,” Harry said, considering. “I might have a solution for that bit if she hasn’t passed out cold. You know there are rooms in the magizoology building for experts who come stay. But they’re completely magic sealed because I sort of, well, had to cram them in between exhibits, so there’s your mum’s glass barrier spell so no one can bother the creatures with magic.”

“That – maybe,” Gemma said, sounding dubious. “Is it warm enough? And what about Aly? She’s going to be totally destroyed if I leave her and take Dom.”

Pansy glanced at her watch, laughing. “Some of us, naming no names, are going to sleep for two hours, take a strong caffeine potion, and then pass out once everyone’s on the train. So I actually think that as badly as you and Aly need to sleep in the same place, tomorrow’s a better night to do it, you can sleep in. And you’re the world’s lightest sleeper, I can tell her you had a headache and were stressed and needed to sleep somewhere dark where the entire castle wasn’t running around screaming.”

“No, no,” Gemma said, shaking her head. “I mean – yes, I’ll take the keys, but I’ll tell her myself, okay? What room, da?”

“Eh, pick one,” Harry said. “Oh, wait, we have a new family group of dobhar-chú from London, we actually linked the exhibit to a section of the lake, we’re hoping if we can get the water pH right they’ll breed in the spring.”

“Fish? Grindylow-esque things? Any of the nine million other things you’ve stuck in water exhibits?” Gemma said. “Just so I know when it pops up and starts making faces at me.”

“Oversized otters,” Pansy said. “With gills that they can turn on and off. And, apparently, which hunt using fascinating magical sensing abilities.” She winked at Gemma. “He was very excited when they got here.”

“You know, no one ever mocks Draco for getting excited over the plants,” Harry said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, because Sirius is fascinated, and Aly and I are trying to sneak off to go drown ourselves in the otter exhibit,” Pansy teased. “Sirius is only _sometimes_ fascinated with the new exhibits.”

“Is it anything that’s going to get mad that a veela’s around?” Gemma said. “Not that I don’t love your exhibits, da, but you remember that time with the harpy eagles and Remy.”

“No,” Harry said. “The whole room is like a one way mirror. You can see them and their magic, they can’t see you. And you may not see them; they’ve been spending more time in their den since the weather’s gotten cold. But if it snows – “ He laughed. “Well, I happen to think they’re pretty cute. And despite the legends, they’re completely harmless towards humans, although apparently they like grindylow snacks.” He snorted. “If you ever feel too badly about this whole veela thing, just bear in mind that merpeople use some fish as currency, and their pet grindylows are apparently not smart enough to realize this and ate – I don’t know, the equivalent of half of Gringotts. I’d tailored the boundary so it wouldn’t affect the merpeople at all, the only things that can’t get out are the dobhar-chú. So they’ve been rounding up grindylows and feeding them to the otters.” He laughed. “Apparently the otters are getting tame and enjoy belly rubs. At least they’ve reassured me that they’re only feeding them the _offending_ grindylow. If it gets me kits, I guess I’ll live with it.”

Gemma shook her head, laughing. “One, only you would explain that whole thing to a yes or no question, and two, why are you in charge of this again?”

“Because I’m going to have to put that in the paper I present at the conference this spring and being an international laughingstock will be really fun?” Harry said, with a grin. “I’m calling it a conspecific hunting enrichment activity.”

“Geek,” Pansy said, fondly. “Kerr, how are you doing?”

“Good,” he said, drowsily. “Thaxia oils my feathers best, no one else can get it spread around right. Kit and Lethe are too big and everyone else is too… human.”

Gemma snorted. “Well, you’d better be finished, I’m going to go upstairs and then we’re going to da’s center.”

“Oh, all right,” he said, rubbing his beak against Thaxia’s muzzle and Kit’s ears. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Thaxia said. “Thank you for being the only one that ever stays clean.”

“I won’t tell her you take dust baths sometimes if you don’t,” Genevieve teased.

“Mean,” Kerr said, flying up to her shoulder. “You’ll get us if you need us for anything? Or if Aly or Sirius or Leona needs us even a little bit?”

“Of course we will,” Pansy said. “Get some rest, sweetheart. And maybe see if you can work things out just enough so you can actually both get some real sleep.”

“I’ll give it my best shot,” Genevieve said. “I love you.”

“Love you back, Gem,” Draco said, with a smile. “Don’t forget to take your solstice gift. Courage through daemons and all that.”

“I won’t,” Genevieve promised, letting Kerr fly ahead up the stairs.


End file.
